The Rookie
The Rookie aka J.D. or James Dante, is an ODST who originally came from Luna (yes, he lived on the moon), but is coming here from New Mombasa. He arrived in-game on November 20, 2010 and currently lives with the Spartans, and sleeps in any available room, or under the stairs. This page is under construction! FOREVER! age: 24 origins: Halo 3:ODST, AU app link: '''Here '''hmd: Here played by: Jayde contact: '''Email: Jaydepuff@aol.com AIM: Jaydepuff Setting Congratulations, Earth has (mostly) unified under the banner of the United Earth Government and United Nations Space Command, but your colony worlds are displeased and start reacting with Insurrectionist uprisings! What do you do? Getting attacked by an organization of violent alien zealots might do the trick! First contact in 2525 did not go as peacefully as might have been hoped, with the alien Covenant declaring humanity as an affront to the gods and attacking. The war extended for a grueling 27 years, being less an even battle and more of a long delaying action by the UNSC to try to find methods to beat the Covenant before they could destroy humanity. Some methods were found to protect Mother Earth, such as the Cole Protocol and – of course – the legendary SPARTAN forces that came out of ONI and put fear into the hearts of the Covenant. Even so, one by one the Outer and Inner Colonies were lost, taken over by the Covenant or outright glassed by their plasma weapons. This included New Jerusalem, the first battle that the Rookie played a major part in. The tide only really began to turn in 2552, after the Fall of Reach, the UNSC stronghold world and gateway to Earth. One of the last surviving Spartans dealt a crushing blow to the Covenant on ring Installation 04. Unfortunately, the Covenant still managed to find Earth, invading the African town of New Mombasa. The Marines and the Spartan drove them back. When only one of the Covenant’s cruisers was left in the area, The Rookie and the rest of his squad were dropped in. They were scattered when the cruiser jumped out while still in atmosphere, leaving J.D. to find the squad and complete their mission on his own. Unbeknownst to him, the survival of the human race depends on him finding Vergil, an Engineer with information vital to the UNSC. Personality One of the most notable things about the Rookie is that he doesn’t really talk much. His friends and coworkers have always pegged him as quiet, or “the strong, silent type”, and he doesn’t do much to change people’s opinions on that. In additional content from the official website, his commander Buck admits that he doesn't say much, but he just needs him to listen. Listening is what the Rookie is exceptional at, whether it's to his commanding officers like Buck and Dare, or to the story of an old ODST like Yevgenny. He's made something of a career out of listening, especially since dropping into New Mombasa, since he's chasing the instructions of the Superintendent AI and the Audio Logs revealing the story of a native girl named Sadie. The time he spent in the company of Yevgenny, while comparatively short, left its impact on J.D. Yevgenny talked about how, for most of his life, planets were nothing to him but dirt. Finally, having sacrificed almost everything – and about to sacrifice his life – Yevgenny realized that the planets of the UEG might be dirt, but they were the humans’ dirt, and that made them worth defending from the Covenant. He made J.D. swear to fight the Covenant to the last, and the Rookie took it to heart. He hates the Covenant and will do everything he can to oppose them. If he has to fight them with nothing but rocks and sticks, he will. Given the setting, this will probably also extend to any current enemies of the other UNSC personnel on the station. He’s a loyalist at heart. Yevgenny’s story might have been a factor in why the Rookie is as quiet as he is, as well; he’s seen humanity at its worst and is carrying not only his own life, but that of Yevgenny as well now, and the weight of the planets the Covenant have glassed, including Reach. Less obvious but just as significant is the fact that the Rookie is good with puzzles. In the most recent hours of his life, he’s had to not only piece together instructions from New Mombasa’s AI, Sadie’s story, and the six hours he missed while unconscious. This includes that he was able to figure out what happened to all of his squadmates after he lost contact with them, and that the New Mombasa police officer he met up with in the Data Hive was not as benevolent as he tried to seem. The designers even admitted that the Rookie was intended as a sort of lone gumshoe in a city full of hostiles (and rain. And saxophone solos), and he fits that bill spectacularly. He is utilizing the Audiophile achievement , which makes use of Sadie’s Story, found in Audio Logs throughout the game. This leads to a minor change in gameplay, where The Rookie calls out Vergil, rather than Dare. More importantly, it leads to one of the only instances in the Halo games where it is a plot point for a human protagonist to kill another human. In spite of his tepid demeanor, this has left J.D. shaken, as has Sadie’s Story, which was rife with humans doing terrible things to other humans in the middle of a Covenant invasion. Also enabled is the “I Would Have Been Your Daddy” Skull, which provides additional dialogue to the game. This, along with the Audio Logs, affects the fact that J.D. has a name – the skull reveals that the Rookie’s first name is James (through additional dialogue from Buck), while the format and ‘Circles’ of the Audio Logs suggest the surname of Dante. Abilities & Weaknesses The Rookie has trained as both a marine and an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. This means he was trained to drop into the atmosphere from space, in what amounts to an armored car with jet thrusters on it. This has made him a bit fearless in the face of death. He also has extensive training with UNSC weapons and vehicles, and specializes in high-risk combat situations. J.D. is a surprisingly strong runner as well, able to flee the blast zone of a Shiva nuclear warhead in time to survive it - unlike the rest of those deployed at New Jerusalem. Also, he’s extremely good at sleeping. Not just anywhere, but everywhere, from his (incredibly cramped) drop pod to solid metal floors, and in his armor no less. Character Relationships '''The Spartans - Rookie is like the littlest Spartan. Helljumpers tend to have tense relations at best with Spartans, but J.D. figures that they're all in the war together... and they're all stuck here with no one else to trust but each other. Generally speaking, Rookie likes them fairly well. More will be added as he gets to know individual Spartans better. *''Emile'' - War buddy. J.D. enjoys his company, and the fact that they can at least sort of discuss the situation on the station like reasonable people. He's willing to go out on a limb to keep Emile out of too much trouble with the rest of the people on the station, even if mostly he just ends up incredibly frustrated by the attempt. *''Carter'' - Spartan-dad, and the Rookie's current C.O. Rookie respects him and can appreciate the trouble that Carter can go through with the Nobles. Generally, Rookie is friendly with him, and occasionally offers advice on dealing with the other residents of Sacrosanct. *''Jun'' - Talkie buddy. Rookie likes him pretty well, and they aren't a bad match as far as conversation - Jun likes to talk and Rook likes to listen, so it all works out. He might also be one of the few people around that's fearless enough to eat the things Jun cooks. *''Kat'' - Rookie doesn't want to be a vehicle with her as the pilot/driver ever again. Blake "Spike" O'Brien - The only UNSC personnel that Rookie outranks, and the only other ODST currently on board. He tends to tease his fellow Helljumper on occasion, mostly because O'Brien makes it easy to do... and because it's the Rookie's right to as a higher-ranked soldier. Generally, though, he has a soft spot for him, and is always willing to listen when their conversations turn serious and O'Brien is willing to talk. Virgil - The weirdest guy Rookie has ever known, which is saying something. He first met the man when he was picking on Jorge. Rookie mostly buddied up to him for information, but he doesn't find Virgil wholly repellent. On the whole, he finds him interesting, but isn't going to stand up for him when he gets into trouble. Kaylee Fry - Cute, lost girl. Who thinks he's her friend Simon. He feels slightly bad that he accidentally impersonated her friend, not that he can do anything about it. He does generally find her interesting, and will go out of his way to assist her. The Arbiter - Uneasy ally. He's familiar with one Covenant alien that defected from the organization, and had a friendly rapport with it. Unfortunately, it was considerably less threatening than a huge Elite in elaborate armor. Even so, he's willing to give Arbiter the benefit of the doubt, for now. Toothless - Adorable dragon. Rookie likes Toothless a lot, and is always willing to help the dragon out however he can... even if he's about as good with explaining technology as Toothless is at using it. Everyone Else - Meet the UNSC's PR department on Sacrosanct! Fun Facts * Rookie is 6' 1" *His blood is O+ *He can whistle the Vergil program's acknowledgement/all-clear tones *He is the only fully-silent protagonist of the Halo series *For hilarious Firefly lols, his PB is Sean Maher, aka Simon Tam See Also *Legendary Walkthrough of ODST *Audiophile Cutscene vs. Normal Cutscene *Sadie's Story on Bungie.net